Individual perception of bias in grant peer review strongly associated with openness towards the introduction of lotteries.

This study of a representative sample of scientists at German universities and higher education institutions investigates researchers’ individual perception of bias in grant peer review and their openness towards the potential introduction of grant lotteries, as well as the potential link between the two concepts. Indeed, bias in peer review is often cited in the theoretical debate on grant lotteries. But even though researchers are both very involved in and strongly affected by grant decision-making, there is not enough empirical evidence on their perspective. I find that bias perception is very prevalent, openness is generally rare and researchers who perceive more bias in grant peer review are more open towards grant lotteries in a substantial and statistically significant way.